No brownouts on election day in GenSan, neighboring areas – NGCP

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 5 May) – This city and the neighboring areas will not experience any rotational brownouts during the May 9 general elections, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ (NGCP) assured.

Abelardo Teves Jr., head of the NGCP’s area control center here, said Wednesday there will be enough power supply on election day as assured by power plants serving the area.

He said power plants within the Mindanao grid will be at full capacity for the elections as mandated by the Department of Energy.

The National Power Corporation-Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management will specifically increase its generation capacity from 120 megawatts (MW) to 320 MW from May 6 to 12.

“NPC-PSALM will increase the flow of Agus II Dam from 30 to 90 cubic meters per second during that period to generate the desired 320 MW,” Teves said in a statement.

He said the Inter-Agency Task Force on Securing Energy Facilities composed of national government agencies and local government units have already convened a month ago and have prepared contingency measures in case power outages will occur before, during or after election day.

This city and parts of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces had experienced long rotational brownouts due to the power supply shortage.

The deficit has been mainly blamed on the declining generation capacity of the hydroelectric plants of the NPC as a result of low water levels.

The situation was compounded by the long dry spell spawned by the El Nino Phenomenon that affected most parts of the country.

Bonifacio Colipano, NGCP district head, said that in case the tower or transmission lines of NGCP will be sabotaged by lawless elements, they have standby measures to facilitate the restoration of power within to two to three hours.

“We have repositioned already our linemen teams that are ready to conduct bypass procedures in case of any eventuality to ensure the steady flow of power during the period,” he said.

He added that they maintain close coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police for the security of their power transmission lines.